Is Alcoholics Anonymous Really A Harmful Religious Cult?

However, after carefully examining the evidence courts reject that claim. Some people, especially more hardcore atheists or agnostics, really struggle with this idea. There are many other options for getting help with drinking or substance use problems, including SMART Recovery or S.O.S.

Young people need to know that like God in Whose image they are made, they can’t do God alone. They need each other, companionship of each other, seated comfortably in the “arm chair” of the Church “reclining” as the Gospels say all did at the First Eucharist in the Upper Room. There one finds the “whole enchilada” in wheat and grapes, Jesus. Well, it does deal constructively with the here-and-now, with humanity as is towards a more perfect outcome. The program these two self-described “drunks” founded began with their meeting in Akron, Ohio, one day in May 1935. Since then their fellowship has grown from two active members to 2.1 million today in 181 countries around the world. Is expressly not a religion, and they would be correct.

Brain Stimulation As Addiction Treatment: Science Fiction, Or An Effective Option?

MM holds that problem drinking is not always the same thing as addiction or alcoholism, and in less severe instances, individuals may be able to moderate their drinking instead of abstaining completely. Moderation may not be the best strategy for everyone, MM acknowledges, but it may work well for some. Behavioural treatments are used in drug and alcohol therapy to improve their self-esteem and change their negative self-images. Guilt and resentment are explored and reimagined to be more constructive feelings and behaviors aa for atheists. Care identifies emotional and social causes, and coping strategies are taught to handle these triggers in daily life.

• At the same time, I was coming into contact with people who had been just like me and were now 10 years sober.
• This affects not simply religion; people are also not affiliating with political parties, civic organizations and societal institutions like marriage.
• Today there are more than 13,000 rehab facilities in the United States, and 70 to 80 percent of them hew to the 12 steps, according to Anne M. Fletcher, the author of Inside Rehab, a 2013 book investigating the treatment industry.
• Hospitals, outpatient clinics, and rehab centers use the 12 steps as the basis for treatment.
• The primary model of the program consists of attending support groups and going through a process known as the “Twelve Steps”, which, despite the name, is a tediously long endeavor full of convoluted concepts that really have nothing to do with alcohol at all.

Be aware, however, that Charles Bufe has suggested the primary reason for a lack of alternatives in many places is that AA itself does not play fair and does everything it can to keep out competing recovery programs. You need support; we all need support to stay sober in the long term. The biggest support groups out there in recovery are AA and NA.

Religion In Aa

Chris has a master’s degree in strategic communication and a graduate certificate in health communication. Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.

Ironically, the Serenity Prayer’s author called AA’s predecessor “a religious expression of a decadent individualism” and a “pollyanna religion,” and considered that it had been based on “a Nazi social philosophy” from the beginning. Meetings begin with recitation of the “Serenity Prayer” and can include more prayer, and the AA literature is overtly infused with religiosity. AA also sprang out of the Christian Oxford Group movement. As a consequence, a number of courts have ruled that enforced AA attendance violates the Establishment Clause such as in the cases of Griffin v. Coughlin and Warner v. Orange County Dep’t of Probation. While some atheist, agnostic, and humanist-oriented AA groups sprang up in response to AA’s religious nature, they are usually not available outside of major urban areas. The judge ruled, as had previous New York appellate decisions, that Alcoholics Anonymous — a self-described “spiritual” fellowship dedicated to helping members stop drinking and recover from alcoholism — engages in constitutionally protected religious activity. Our experience in a small Christian community, examining how next Sunday’s scripture can give the strength, hope and direction to many in a parish setting.

United States Treatment Industry

What it meant for alcoholics like Vic was an anguishing choice between sobriety and hypocrisy. Meeting felt to them like hiding, if not violating, deeply held secular beliefs. Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these Steps, we tried to carry this message to alcoholics, and to practice these principles in all our affairs.

But participants are discouraged from giving advice to one another, and crosstalk is not permitted. During meetings, members make announcements and pass a hat or basket around for donations. Because AA does not charge for attendance, these donations help pay for costs Sober companion such as literature and incidental expenses. Meetings last about 60 to 90 minutes and are typically held in public forums, such as schools, churches or community centers. They often involve meditating, praying, reading AA literature and sharing personal stories.

Disease Concept Of Alcoholism

My aim is not to take a position on whether or not AA is a religion. Clearly, definitions of “religion” and “spirituality” change over time, and areemployed for different social and political reasons. With the publication of its basic text, Alcoholics Anonymous, in 1939, the AA message quickly spread across the globe, eventually giving life to a variety of Twelve Step groups. The Twelve Steps are arguably the most well-known and widespread program of recovery from the disease of alcoholism (a widely-held concept it helped to normalize) in the world today. The research is quite complex and is still developing; some studies have suggested an association between AA and increased abstinence or other positive outcomes, but other studies have not.

Three floors above a Manhattan street of loading docks and coffee shops, in a functional room of folding chairs and linoleum tile, a man who introduced himself as Vic began to speak. The dozen people seated around him applauded, and several even whooped in support. The Establishment Clause is part of the alcohol anonymous First Amendment of the U.S. It prohibits government from making any law “respecting an establishment of religion.” In effect, it places a wall between government and religion or spirituality. It’s generally, though quite simplistically, understood that before you start AA you need to hit rock bottom.

What Is Aas Success Rate?

The Department of Health and Human Services, the primary administrator of the act, is currently evaluating treatments. But the legislation does not specify a process for deciding which methods should be approved, so states and insurance companies are setting their own rules. How they’ll make those decisions is a matter of ongoing discussion.

A study found an association between an increase in attendance at AA meetings with increased spirituality and a decrease in the frequency and intensity of alcohol use. The research also found that AA was effective at helping agnostics and atheists become sober. The authors concluded that though spirituality was an important mechanism of behavioral change for some alcoholics, it was not the only effective mechanism. There are online resources listing AA meetings for atheists and agnostics.

“God, as we knew Him” is the most important term to comprehend. Many people use the term “Higher Power” instead of “God” to emphasise that this isn’t about the capital-G Christian God.

The man, 33-year-old Paul Cox, was sentenced to a minimum of 16 years in prison for the killings of two people in their home in 1988. Cox’s arrest and conviction resulted from his confessions to fellow Alcoholics Anonymous members, according to Tuesday’s ruling by U.S. Another self-help group, Narcotics Anony-mous, is composed of individuals who are recovering from dependency on drugs. Showed that 91% of sponsors had maintained their abstinence from alcohol after 10 years. If you’ve never participated in conversations on Reddit or online groups or chats, then you might not know just how close-knit and supportive the people you meet online are.

Likewise, less well intentioned religious persons might see this as an gifted opportunity to convert the vulnerable. “God as we understand him”, is pressed home as a guideline only, purely intended as a helpful means of developing a personal relationship with an individual ‘Higher Power’. Curious about this I have done some discrete Christian Today investigative journalism. There is little doubt that AA shows prodigious results, also that it shys away from any official religious partnerships. It is difficult to run a randomized controlled trial on AA for these reasons. AA claims, based on its most recent survey, that 69% of its members have been sober for more than one year. The attrition rate of AA is so high that most people who try it don’t stick around long enough to be factored into any account of a success rate.

What would worry me is if Tanya did not see the serious shortcomings of the 12 steps, and seek to make up for them in her ongoing warfare with sin in some kind of good, solid, healthy church, and in her own study of Scripture. Assuming we have experienced a spiritual awakening that comes as a result of completing the 11 steps, we carry the message of A.A. To other addicts and practice the principles of A.A. People that consistently participate in support groups like AA are more likely to get sober and stay sober after treatment. Some AA members gain a sense of purpose by showing up to meetings early and making coffee for everyone. Other members do service by sponsoring newcomers, sharing their story, or delving deeper into the spiritual aspects of the program.

They believed that when a spiritual awakening occurred in a recovering alcoholic, the craving for alcohol was the equivalent of the spiritual thirst of human beings for wholeness. Given the magnitude of the spiritual dimension in the case of substance dependence, some clinicians have approached all drug addictions as essentially spiritual crises rather than psychiatric disorders. AA emerged in the midst of the Great Depression and in the aftermath of the Prohibition Period in the United States. Alcoholism and other forms of substance dependence were highly stigmatized conditions that generated limited public sympathy. Most hospitals in urban areas did not welcome alcoholics for treatment but were compelled to serve those who presented acute medical issues. Treatment resources were devoted mostly to detoxification and alcoholic-related morbidity, with limited attention given to assisting alcoholics to maintain abstinence following detoxification. With its focus on maintaining sobriety, AA led to a shift in treatment emphasis from managing acute aspects of substance dependence to facilitating long-term sobriety in the community.